Small-Town Resistance and Red-Seat Wins

(April 14, 2017; Matthew Chapman, Shareblue): “This week saw an amazingly close race in the special election for Kansas’s 4th Congressional District, one of the most conservative parts of the country. Democrat James Thompson came within 7 points of Republican Ron Estes, in a district Republicans carried by 32 points in 2016. The results left Republicans jittery — particularly about their prospects in the special election on April 18 in Georgia’s 6th District, where Democrat Jon Ossoff continues to keep the race competitive. If the 25-point swing in Kansas was repeated nationwide in 2018, Democrats could win back the House in a landslide — and possibly even have a chance at the Senate. But some commentators are debating whether what happened in Kansas was part of a national backlash against Donald Trump, or a one-off event… New evidence from another state suggests the results from Kansas are not an isolated event….”